


Day 1—Tattoos

by protectignisscientia



Series: Gladnis Week 2017 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Dom/sub, Hinted At Anyway, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, aside from ignis's angry inflamed skin but that's being handled, everything is sappy and nothing hurts, you'll see more of it in my later fics for the week ;D
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 08:29:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12908115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protectignisscientia/pseuds/protectignisscientia
Summary: Ignis gets a tattoo to surprise Gladio with, then gets so wrapped up in everything he has to do that he forgets about caring for it properly. Don't worry, Gladio caught him before it got too infected.





	Day 1—Tattoos

**Author's Note:**

> Ages:  
> Gladio - 18, turning 19 in less than a month  
> Ignis - Turned 18 a little over a month ago
> 
> This is saccharine as heck. You've been warned.

In retrospect, Ignis really ought to have told Gladio about the tattoo sooner. At the very latest, he should have told Gladio about the tattoo right after he'd gotten it. Then his boyfriend could have been on him like stink on a garula from the start rather than—

"OW!"

—almost two weeks later when the advisor-in-training had been swamped enough with his duties to forget about its care, allowing the beginnings of an infection to set in.

"I didn't even touch it yet, Iggy."

"...Oh."

Honestly, Ignis couldn't even take credit for telling Gladio about it. He had been waiting for the right time, a time when the two of them could be together for more than a few minutes. Gladio could of course make time at a moment's notice to be with Ignis, and Ignis sincerely wished he was capable of the same devotion to Gladio. He didn't love the Shield any less than the Shield loved him, and he knew Gladio knew that, but Ignis still hated himself for his inability to _show it_ to the degree that Gladio did.

But to get to the point, Ignis hadn't told Gladio about the tattoo. Gladio had found out about it less than half an hour ago when his typical greeting to his perpetually-busy other half—a light (for Gladio) shoulder slap, whenever Ignis was near enough for physical contact—had caused said other half to give an entirely _atypical_ response. Normally, Ignis would return the greeting with his own—a fleeting squeeze to Gladio's upper arm—but that hadn't been what he'd done this time.

No, _this_ time, Ignis had yelped and dropped all of his paperwork as he stumbled onto his hands and knees, because bloody hell it had been his left shoulder this time instead of his right and _guess where his tattoo was?_

To be fair, it wasn't limited to his left shoulder. The tail of the scarlet kingsnake coiled over his left shoulder blade, then the serpent reached up towards the back of his neck, slithered across it well beneath the line of any collar of any shirt he'd wear in public, and draped over his right shoulder before finally resting its head upon the right side of his collarbone. It was as elegant as the young man bearing it, and placed in such a way that Gladio would be the only one who ever got to see it.

Following the unfortunately-placed slap and the resulting tumble, Gladio had wasted no time in scooping Ignis up in one arm and collecting everything that Ignis had dropped in the other, then rushing straight to his boyfriend’s office, which was nearer to them than his own. Ignis had just left it on his way to another meeting, and Gladio would hear none of his pleas to be let go so he wouldn’t arrive late.

It had taken several denied requests followed by an order given in his Dom Voice for Gladio to finally convince Ignis to take off his shirt. This of course meant taking off his blazer, his vest, his shirt _and_ his undershirt, and the degree to which Ignis had reacted to a light slap despite so many layers was _exactly_ why his boyfriend was so concerned. The red of Ignis’s inflamed skin had very nearly matched the red bands of the serpent, and that was what made Gladio’s decision for him. Ignis was taking the rest of the day off and going to Gladio’s apartment so the Shield could tend to his precious idiot of a boyfriend.

So there they were, seated sideways on Gladio’s couch with Ignis settled between Gladio’s legs, his back currently facing the Shield. An array of medical supplies lay within Gladio’s reach on the coffee table as he examined the worst of the damage, and he reached for the washcloth he had soaking in a mix of warm water and antibacterial soap with a heavy sigh. “So just how long ago _did_ you get this thing?” he asked while wringing the washcloth out.

“I got it on—AH!” Ignis jammed his eyes shut and clenched his hands tightly as Gladio dabbed at his angry skin. “M-March second,” he bit out as his eyes watered.

“So twelve days ago.” Gladio shook his head in disbelief, brow furrowing as he watched Ignis tense under the gentle contact of the washcloth. “And you were planning on telling me _when_?”

“The next time we’d have an entire day together.”

The Shield’s face flushed vividly, but his expression and his sigh were no less exasperated for it. “So my birthday. You were gonna wait a _month_ to tell me so it could be a more presentable birthday surprise.” He snorted at Ignis’s faint nod, lifting his free hand to pet that tawny hair he loved so much. “That’s fuckin’ sweet, babe, but forgive me for being relieved that I found out _way_ sooner.”

“I’m sorry,” Ignis murmured as Gladio got the washcloth wet again. “I went over the care guide several times, even verified its thoroughness with additional research, but—” He was cut off when Gladio resumed cleaning his wound, his words melting into a pained hiss.

Whether or not Gladio’s timing had been _totally deliberate_ was for him to know and Ignis never to find out. “But you’re up to your eyeballs in busy and self-care is always your _last_ priority,” he interrupted flatly, finishing Ignis’s sentence for him, “I _know_.” The Shield heaved yet another sigh. “That’s why I’m so relieved I caught this before it actually made you sick. _And_ before it got too infected to heal up pretty for you.” He added that last part with a soft smile.

Ignis perked up a little at that, vivid green eyes blinking open. “You really think it’ll be alright?”

“Iggy, _baby_ ,” Gladio replied with a smirk, “Need I remind you that I’ve got one of these things too? Y’know, the fuckin’ _huge_ one?” He snorted and shook his head. “I was stupid and distractible at the first phase, didn’t give it the attention it deserved, so it got pissed off at me. And lemme just say this: you’re lucky it’s _me_ who caught you and not my _father_.”

Ignis cringed. “Lord Am—”

“You _know_ he wants you to call him Clarus.”  
  
“ _Clarus_ wasn’t gentle with you, was he?”

“Not one bit.” There was a bit of a splash as Gladio dunked the washcloth again. “He _smacked_ me with the damn washcloth every chance he got, lectured me the whole time. Oh, and for the record, when it’s this angry you clean it at _least_ twice a day, and he took that shit over. And he smacked me with the washcloth every chance he got, and lectured me through every cleaning.”

Ignis could only wince at that; there were no adequate words to offer his boyfriend.

“ _Yup_.”

Ignis couldn’t help but snort softly in response to such a nonchalant answer, and a shy smile tugged at his lips. “Do you like it? Infection notwithstanding, I mean.”

“Gonna be gorgeous once it’s all healed up,” Gladio almost purred, tone shifting to a curious one as he continued to speak. “Why a snake, though? Aren’t they like—”

“Horribly misunderstood?” Ignis interrupted, “Yes, and this one in particular. Scarlet kingsnakes aren’t nearly as venomous as the coral snakes they mimic, and certainly not venomous enough to pose a threat to the average human. They merely _look_ dangerous as a means of self-preservation.”

“Kinda like how you act all stiff and unapproachable to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of?”

Ignis frowned. “...Yes.”

“But that can’t be the _only_ reason. I know you; there’s gotta be like twenty different layers of meaning to this thing.” Gladio’s eyes were alight with admiration. “Turn around, I’m done back here.”

Ignis did as he was told, laying his legs over Gladio’s once he was facing him. His gaze remained downcast, no longer out of shame but rather because blast it, he was _shy_ about this. He was of course proud of the thought he’d put into his decision, but he was still fully aware of how much of a _dork_ it made him. “...But by and large, snakes are harmless and even _silly_ if you give them the respect they deserve.”

“Uh-huh.” Gladio wasn’t the least bit ashamed of how wide his smile was getting. He fucking loved Ignis, okay? The amount of thought he put into every decision was one of the big reasons _why_ he loved Ignis.

“But even the ones with no venom or venom that’s of little threat to humans have a _nasty_ bite, so you _still_ have to respect them,” Ignis continued in a lightly-scolding tone.

“I’m good about that.”

“ _Most_ of the time.”

“Nobody’s perfect.”

“You’re nearer to it than anyone I know.”

“Look in the mirror, Iggy.”

“ _Hush_.”

“ _Make me_.”

“I don’t _have_ to explain all of this to you.”

“ _Okay_ point taken. Hushing.”

Ignis huffed indignantly, but his smile completely gave away the fact that he wasn’t _actually_ annoyed. No amount of pleading to the Six could save him from how much he loved the overgrown goofball he was privileged to call his boyfriend. “...Silly as they can be, however, snakes are still quite clever, and masters of stealth.”

“Sounds like a guy I know.”

“ _Gladiolus_.”

“Oh _come on_ , you’ve _gotta_ know how hard it is to shut up when the babe makes it so _easy_ to say something sappy.”

“...I’ll let it slide.”

Gladio opted to respond with a kissing noise instead of words this time.

Ignis huffed a soft laugh as he smiled a little more. He idly noticed that conversation was distracting him from the sting of having his angry skin cleaned, which ironically made him _notice_ said sting. His body began to tense again as he bit his lower lip and wrenched his eyes shut.

Ever attentive to the shifts in his boyfriend’s demeanor, Gladio didn’t miss a beat. “There’s gotta be more, right?”

“Yes,” Ignis responded in a tight voice, willing himself to let out a slow breath afterward. He relaxed again and his eyes opened back up. “...They don’t have to rely on their sight, which I envy them for. Mine isn’t bad enough to warrant contact lenses, if I could even _tolerate_ them, but neither is it good enough to render spectacles unnecessary. I needn’t remind you how often I have to clean them in order to _maintain_ their usefulness.”

“And you still try to clean them as seldom as possible,” Gladio added with a well-meaning scoff. “Still remember the time you had such a big smudge on the left side that it gave you a blind spot during training until I _insisted_ you do something about it because I was getting too many easy hits in.”

“You’ll never let me live that one down, will you?” 

“Nnnnnn _ope_!”

“You’re not very kind.”

Gladio stuck his tongue out.

“Snakes have a _nasty_ bite, dearest.”

Gladio pulled his tongue back into his mouth.

Ignis hummed in quiet amusement. “They also require external sources of warmth; being cold-blooded, they cannot generate it internally like we can.”

“Which is why this fella was so inclined to snuggle a cutie by the name of Ignis?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Ignis answered as his face went scarlet all the way to his ears, “and while I am a dab hand at most elements of magic, fire is my strong suit.”

“Which is why I just _love_ calling you hot.”

“I love puns even more than you do and even _I_ can see how _terrible_ that one is.”

“Even with that smudge I can totally see on your right lens.”

“ _Stop_.”

Gladio let out a full-blown guffaw as he set the washcloth down in the water and reached for the antibiotic ointment. “Anything else, Smartypants? I feel like you’re holding back on me.”

Ignis’s mouth slanted self-consciously as he absently scratched the fabric of his pantlegs. “...There’s one more thing,” he admitted under his breath.

“And…?” Gladio gave Ignis an expectant look as he gently applied the ointment to his tender skin.

Ignis hissed softly, and it was only due in part to the ointment. It didn’t hurt that much. In fact, after the initial sting, it left his skin feeling _much_ better. No, the hiss was due mostly to the fact that his final reason for choosing a snake was so bloody _romantic_ he could barely stand to admit it. Gladio would _never_ let him forget this.

“Igniiiiiiis~”

He let out a loud huff. “...Snakes constantly renew themselves by casting off all of their skin at once. That same casting off permits them to grow. However, they are vulnerable during the process, so they won't do it until they are in a safe place to let their guard down.”

Gladio understood the metaphor immediately, and it caused his face to rival that of his boyfriend in terms of how much he was blushing. All the same, he wanted to hear Ignis spell it out. “When do you cast off your skin, Ignis?” he urged, his voice as soft and warm as he could muster.

“You _know_ when,” Ignis protested.

“I still wanna hear you say it.”

“ _Fine_.” Ignis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “...Whenever I have the privilege of being alone with you.”

Gladio was all too happy to use the excuse of needing to reach Ignis’s back to pull his boyfriend close. He _did_ spread ointment tenderly over the inflamed skin there, but he was more focused on hugging his precious Ignis. His chin settled on the younger man’s head as the love he felt in that moment knocked the breath right out of his lungs in a heavy gust. “Dammit, Ignis…”

“I love you too, Gladio.”

“Shut up.”

“You first.”

“Ain’t happenin’.”

“It seems we’re an an impasse, then.”

“You’re taking the rest of the week off so I can keep both eyes on you. I’ll make it work.”

“Gladio—”

“ _Did I fucking stutter, pet_?”

Ignis shrunk against Gladio’s chest in a placating gesture. “No, Sir.”

“Didn’t think so,” Gladio cooed. He planted a kiss atop Ignis’s head before nudging him back up to cover his damaged skin with gauze.

The next few days were gonna be great. There was little Gladio loved more than taking care of the selfless man who took care of everyone else.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a ridiculous amount of fun writing this. Thanks to Ginia and GeminiDerp for beta-ing for me!
> 
> Also I've got a tumblr in case you didn't find this through there already! http://protectignisscientia.tumblr.com/


End file.
